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Porsche 991.2 Turbo v 991.2 Carrera 4S: Twin Turbos

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Kyle Fortune

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There is a 930 3.0-litre parked in the presentation room for the 911 Turbo and Carrera 4, 4S and Targa 4 launch. Immaculate, as you’d expect, the white, whale-tailed monster is attracting huge interest from the assembled motoring press.

Appealing as it is, its performance, however frightful back when it was the main event in the late 1970s, pales in comparison to even the standard Carreras of today. The 930 driver wouldn’t see which way a 991 went, however hard they tried or skilled they were.

Progress is an inevitability, and the 930’s 260bhp looks meagre today. Its 5.5-second 0-62mph time is merely quick, rather than outrageous. I’d still love a go, to see just how true the horror stories of all-or-nothing boost really are, and because, well, just, old Porsches…

It would be the 993 that would tame the Turbo badge, civilise its performance with four-wheel drive and twin turbos, making for a more linear, predictable power delivery and better traction to make use of its prodigious output.

Looking at the specifications of the cars here today shows much the same march of time. The Turbo and Turbo S are the reason we’re really here, the C4, C4S and Targa arguably making up the numbers. Only, the numbers they’re making look particularly impressive.

Read the specifications of the C4S and you could be mistaken for thinking it’s a 997 Turbo. Wider hips, four-wheel drive and a 0-62mph time of 3.8 seconds with PDK and Sport Plus (4.0 seconds with PDK alone and 4.2 seconds with a good old manual).

That time betters the 997 Gen1 Turbo to 62mph by 0.1 seconds, despite the C4S’ 420bhp being 60bhp light in comparison to its older relation. This is a Carrera 4S that’s faster than its rear-driven alternative, too, which finally gives customers more reason to buy it than the usual sure-footedness and styling arguments.

But there could well be more to the story than that: is the C4S now a genuine ‘lightweight turbo’ challenger to the mighty Turbo icon itself?

The C4S is the car I’m in first, Porsche choosing Kyalami in South Africa to launch the latest in its expansive 911 product line-up. In front of me is a new Turbo, driven by Porsche works driver, Jörg Bergmeister, and it’s clear he’s in a hurry.